My first impression of Yangon was surprise at how large it was. Not that I was expecting a dirt village for the former capital but it’s a rather sizeable city. And after a short few days there, I decided I quite liked it. It’s very diverse in culture and cuisine all compacted within narrow streets. There are no high rise buildings so you don’t get the overwhelming feeling that large cities like Singapore or Hong Kong can give.

We didn’t stay long as we were wanting to head north but whilst in Yangon we did do a food tour with Yangon Food Tours (very creatively named). It was a great decision because none of us really had much prior knowledge as to what Burmese cuisine consisted of or whether we’d even like it. Our guide Phone was very knowledgeable and gave bits of history as we walked around the downtown from place to place to try all the delicious food. As with any large country that spans a large land area, there are many influences and specialties that hail from specific areas but if I had to encapsulate Burmese food into a simple summary I’d say it was mainly noodles (sometimes with soup, sometimes without) and salads. By salads, I don’t mean the pitiful western notion of a salad with its limp leaves and thick dressings. Burmese salads are kind of like their tapas, or at least that’s how we’d taken to eating them. We’d order a few dishes like tomato salad, aubergine salad and glass noodle salads and share. It was mixed in light sauce and seasoned with varying mixes but peanuts and coriander features often. These are great for lunch particularly when it hits mid to high 30 centigrade. I am very taken with Burmese food. Hopefully it’ll get more international recognition and restaurants will open back home!

The other thing that we did in Yangon was go to the Shwe Dagon Pagoda, the most sacred pagoda in Myanmar and historians pinpoint its construction back between 6th to 10th century AD. It is a very impressive structure that can be seen shining from a distance.

We got up early to catch the sunrise unfortunately, possibly due to the time of year, the atmosphere was too hazy to get a clear sunrise. Nevertheless it was humbling to see the young monks already praying when we got there at 6am and still praying when we left an hour and a half later.

Later that day we caught the night bus to Bagan. If you ever want a bit more luxury it’s worth getting the VIP class. You get more leg room as well as reclining seats and will be well looked after by the steward or stewardess on board.